Best 12th Gen Intel Core i7 H-series Laptops For the Ultimate Mobile Performance

The H-series processors from Intel’s 12th Generation range, particularly the Intel Core i7s does literary spells ‘HOT’ when you consider the amount of power it consumes. In fact, the fastest of them in our list, the Intel Core i7-12700H consumes as much power as the Intel Core i9-12900HK. But all that power that it consumes and the heat that it generates does go into pushing more performance out of the die.

Intel Core i7 H-series Processors

The most popular among the 12th generation Intel Core i7 H-series laptop is the Intel Core i7-12700H. There are other Intel Core i7 processors powering the standard laptops and even gaming laptops but none as popular as the Intel Core i7-12700H. We will look at the best laptops based on this 12th generation Intel Core i7-12700H processor in the following section.

However, the title for the most powerful Intel Core i7 laptop from the H-series goes to Intel Core i7-12800HX. This is a premium Intel Core i7 processor, more powerful than the Intel Core i9-12800HK thanks to Intel jamming 16 cores into the die. Together they offer 24 processing threads. Of the 16 cores, these are split down the middle with 8 performance cores and 8 efficient cores. Laptops powered by said chip are none other than a high-end gaming laptops with hefty price tags to match.

For the rest of us, look to laptops powered by either the Intel Core i7-12700H or Intel Core i7-12650H processor. Iff the price is right, and with he right GPU, you can even consider a laptop with the 11th generation Intel Core i7-11800H, reasons we will see in the next section. Current 12th generation Intel Core i7 H-series processors are as listed below:

• Intel Core i7-12800HX Processor
• Intel Core i7-12700H Processor
• Intel Core i7-12650H Processor

Power Consumption versus Performance

Within the same architecture and processor generation, the more cores be it performance or efficient cores that you pack into a die translate to more performance. It also means the more power is required to keep those cores fired up, so power efficiency takes a hit. The H-series is one with such compromises, more cores for more performance but at the price of efficiency. For laptops, that translate to shorter battery life, heat management requirements and active cooling. Here is a quick look at the Typical Thermal Design Power (TDP) and Thermal Design Power Up levels for H-series processors compared to the more efficient P and U-series. Our favourite processor, the Intel Core i7-12700H consumes just as much power as the Intel Core i9-12900HK both being 14 core 20 thread processor.

	Core/Thread	Perf/Effi	Max Freqs GHz	Cache	Typ TDP	TDP Up
Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK Processor	14C/20T	6P/8E	3.8E/5.0P	24MB	45W	115W
Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX Processor	16C/24T	8P/8E	3.4E/4.8P	25MB	55W	157W
Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor	14C/20T	6P/8E	3.5E/4.7P	24MB	45W	115W
Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor	10C/16T	6P/4E	3.5E/4.7P	24MB	45W	115W
Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor	8C/16T	NA	4.6GHz	24MB	45W	NA
Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor	12C/16T	4P/8E	3.4E/4.7P	18MB	28W	64W
Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor	10C/12T	2P/8E	3.5E/4.7P	12MB	15W	55W
Intel® Core™ i7-1250U Processor	10C/12T	2P/8E	3.5E/4.7P	12MB	9W	29W

Intel Core i7 H-series Performance compared to P and U series

So the H-series processor runs hotter and consumes a lot more power but how does it compare performance wise. From the real world results based on benchmarks submitted by users to cpubenchmark.net, the Average CPU Mark for Intel Core i7-12700H is nearly twice (1.97 times) more powerful than the Intel Core i7-1250U. There is no real advantage choosing between the U-series chip but the Intel Core i7-1260P processor is about 25% faster than Intel Core i7-1250U. Even the 11th generation Intel Core i7-11800H, a H-series processor is 1.5 times more powerful. As we mentioned earlier, the most powerful processor is the Intel Core i7-12800HX clocking a huge 2.51 times gain over Intel Core i7-1250U.

	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK Processor	29330	3770
Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX Processor	34191	3939
Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor	26863	3676
Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor	24690	3805
Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor	21116	3121
Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor	16994	3301
Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor	13526	3381
Intel® Core™ i7-1250U Processor	13603	3102

See chart below for a quick comparison.

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RELATED: You can read up more about which Intel Core i7 processor is the best high-end mobile CPU for your next laptop here.

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Top 8 Best Intel Core i7 H-series Laptops

Now that we know where H-series processors stand, let’s take a look at some of the best laptops powered by these H-series processors.

1. LENOVO Yoga Slim 7 ProX 14.5-inch Laptop

Most compact and lightweight unit with sharp display and options for bigger storage or NVIDIA discrete graphics plus plenty of battery life

This is as small as you can get for a laptop powered by Intel Core i7 H-series processor. The LENOVO Yoga Slim 7 ProX comes with a 14.5-inch 3K panel with a high 120Hz refresh rate. For your money, you get 16GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage together with the all powerful Intel Core i7-12700H. Although, if you are willing to go higher and pay more, you have a choice of 1TB SSD storage or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB discrete graphics. Whichever model you choose, you get up to 12.5 hours of battery life which is amazing for a powerful laptop, lightweight 1.45kg design, hardware calibrated display with plenty of brightness to boot (400nits), two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one full size USB3.2 and HDMI 2.0 port.

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• Intel® Evo™ platform
• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD
• 3K screen 3072 x 1920p / 120 Hz
• Battery life: Up to 12.5 hours

 

2. DELL Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 16-inch Laptop

Great value for a big laptop with NVIDIA discrete graphics but screen brightness could be better

For those looking for a 16-inch laptop, who wouldn’t given that it is the sweet spot at the moment, here’s an affordable Dell Inspiron 16 Plus. With the introduction of more and more laptops with a 16-inch display, such as the MacBook Pro 16, Dell is not one to fall behind. While you still get the Dell XPSwith more conventional screen sizes at 15.6-inch and 17-inch, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 has a 16-inch 3K display. It’s value preposition doesn’t just stop there. Powered by Intel Core i7-12700H processor, it also has a discreet GPU in the form of NVIDIA RTX 3050 4GB offering gaming capabilities at an affordable price.

To keep things running cool in its sleek and compact chassis, there are two massive exhaust grills, one on either wides next to the ports. Behind those grills are 2 active fans and give heat pipes to vent those heat. In case you are interested, two of those heat pipes are for Intel Iris Xe Graphics for the rest are for GeForce RTX 3050. We love the narrow bezels around its 16-inch 16:10 display although it could be brighter at 300nits maximum brightness. To keep cost down, there is only one Thunderbolt 4 port that supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort. But you do ge two full size USB3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports a, one full size SD card reader, HDMI2.0 and 3.5mm combo audio jack.

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• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• RAM: 16 GB DDR5 / Storage: 512 GB SSD
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB
• 3K screen
• Battery life: Up to 12 hours

 

3. HP ENVY 16-h0000na 16-inch Laptop

Best for 16-inch Wide Quad HD touchscreen with generous storage and powerful Intel Arc graphics

The HP Envy 16 is one of the many HP Envy laptop family in various shapes and sizes. The other being HP Envy x360 with 15.6-inch touchscreen and HP Envy 17 laptop with 17.3-inch touchscreen. This 16-inch model is the only one with Quad HD touscreen display backed by Intel Arc A370M 4GB. This is the first laptop in its class to receive Intel’s discrete graphics.

With the combination, you get powerful performance, great gaming experience, loud enough Bang & Olufsen quad sound system and a fantastic Wide QuadHD 2560 x 1600 pixel 16:10 aspect ratio display with 400nits brightness and wide 100% sRGB colour gamut. Being a touchscreen, it is wrapped in edge to edge glass giving it a premium feel.

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• Intel® Evo™ platform
• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 1 TB SSD
• Graphics: Intel® Arc™ A370M 4 GB
• Quad HD touchscreen

 

4. DELL XPS 15 9520 15.6-inch Laptop

OLED panel and Intel Core i9 model pushes the price up by a lot otherwise, a healthy laptop with double storage and powerful discrete graphics 

Dell XPS 15 and 17 are two powerful laptops from the company with options for Intel Core i7-12700H or Intel Core i9-12900HK. We consider the cheaper of the two options powered by Intel Core i7-12700H. It is worth pointing out that while the two Dell XPS 15 configuration we consider here comes with the same GeFore RTX 3050 Ti 4GB graphics, the XPS 17 edition has a more powerful GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB with its Core i9-12900HK unlocked version.

All you get with the Dell XPS 15 apart from the upgraded Intel Core i9-12900HK are double the memory at 32GB and a super bright and sharp 3.5K OLED touchscreen. The Core i7-12700H edition however, makes do with Full HD non touch display and 15GB memory.

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• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 1 TB SSD SSD
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4 GB
• 15.6-inch Full HD screen
• Battery life: Up to 8 hours

OR

• Unlocked Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK Processor
• RAM: 32 GB / Storage: 1 TB SSD
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4 GB
• 15.6-inch 3.5K OLED touchscreen 3.5K 3456 x 2160p
• Battery life: Up to 8 hours

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5. DELL XPS 17 9720 17-inch Laptop

The bigger of the two Dell XPS laptops also come with choice of processors and GPUs but the Full HD display is a let down.

This may be a big 17-inch laptop but the four Infinityedge ultra narrow bezels around the display makes this a 17-inch laptop with the tightest foot print, similar to a 15-inch form factor. It also has the slimmest of dimension for a full size laptop, measuring only 19.05mm slim and a starting weight of 2.17kg. The Dell XPS we are looking at is powered by Intel Core i7-12700H but there is an unlocked Intel Core i9-12900HK version with the highest possible performance on a laptop here.

Back to the Core i7 version, this is paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB graphics perfect for some gaming in your downtime albeit on a Full HD 16:10 display. Being a full size laptop also allows it more room to include four Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports capable of DisplayPort and Power Delivery, two on either sides, a full size SD card slow and 3.5mm audio combo jack.

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• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB
• Full HD screen
• Battery life: Up to 11 hours

OR

• Unlocked Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK Processor 3299
• RAM: 32 GB / Storage: 1 TB SSD
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB
• 4K Ultra HD touchscreen
• Battery life: Up to 5 hours

 

6. ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo UX8402ZA 14.5-inch Laptop

One of a kind laptop with dual display that deploys into a portable workstation with an angled secondary touchscreen display and a super fast 0.2ms response time 14.5-inch 2.8K main OLED display. Both these displays are capable of 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut and support for productivity focused experience.

Love it or hate it, the ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo is a one of a kind laptop that is certain to turn heads. It is also available with the more powerful Intel Core i9-129900H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4GB discrete graphics but that just pushes the price right up and the battery life takes a hit with only up to 6 hours. For a more usable specification on the go, the Intel Core i7-12700H model with just the onboard graphics stretches the battery life up to 9.5 hours.

It still carries the two 2.8K OLED touchscreens, one measuring 14.5-inch with 550nits brightness while the other measures 12.7-inch and doubles as a touchpad with a brightness of 500 nits. Another real bonus is the inclusion of a stylus so you can let your creativity run wild. That and a full size keyboard and trackpad makes this a delight to work on, a true desktop replacement that only weighs 1.7kg and measures 1.79mm thin.

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• Intel® Evo™ platform
• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD
• Graphics: Intel® Iris® Xe
• 14.5-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) 120Hz OLED and 12.7-inch 2.8K (2880 x 864) 120Hz ScreenPad Plus touchscreens 
• Battery life: Up to 9.5 hours
• Includes stylus